Though
many English words have been borrowed into Japanese, most cannot be recognised
even when they are written in the Japanese alphabetic script (romaji). The
reason is the differences between Japanese and English pronunciation. Japanese
syllables only have a single consonant and never end in a consonant apart from
‘n’, ‘ta’, ‘do’ etc, never ‘tat’, ‘tra’ etc. So English
words borrowed into Japanese tend to be padded out with extra vowels to
separate the consonants and to end in a vowel, for example ‘supana’
(spanner). Japanese also makes no distinction between ‘r’ and ‘l’,
yielding ‘teberu’ (table). Finally Japanese goes in for shortening long
words, ‘sekuhara’ (sexual harassment)

Here are some common
Japanese words with their English equivalent.

Sutoraki
: strike

Sarariman : salaryman
(i.e. company worker)

Suteshon : station

pasokon : personal computer

Nekutai : neckties

Apato : apartment

Gurin-Piisu
: green peas

Tafu :
tough (meaning strong)

Sandoicchiman :
sandwichman

Rajio : radio

pasokon : personal computer

kurippu : paper clip

ofisu : office

purintaa : printer

purintaa : printer

arubamu : photo album

hotto rain : hotline

konbini : convenience store

Taipuraita : typewriter

Haado-uea : hardware

Puroguraame : program

Doraggu
: drugs

Nyuu
takkusu : new tax

Happi-endo
: happy ending

Hanbaagaa
: hamburger

posutokaado : postcard

Muudi : moody (pleasant
and cosy)

Teberu : table

Bos

u : boss (gangleader)

Waa-puro :word
processor

Saidaa : cider
(lemonade)

famiresu : family restaurant

Seroteepu : sellotape

supana : spa

Now see if you can
guess what English words these Japanese words come from. Warning: they may not
necessarily have the same meaning. Answers
below